Remember Myspace? The first 'social media' site I remember existing. Back when it was about connecting with your friends and with things that interest you. That was where I first picked heard Rain Wizard. Trawling through the band section, skipping most of them cause they were awful. The opening guitars, Chris Robertson's vocals, it was bliss. I then went to the old Carling Academy in Birmingham and saw them play to a packed out room supported by Sevendust. That was 2006. This isn't 2006 anymore.

 

Thank You: Livin' Live is Black Stone Cherry's first foray into the live DVD area and shows the culmination of over a decade of hard work. Recording in front of an adoring Birmingham audience which I am very proud to be able to say I paid for the privilege to be part of, this DVD shows what a band can achieve with a tonne of hard work and even more talent.

 

From the curtain literally dropping on Rain Wizard you can feel the electricity in the air and Chris' hands heading straight to his head is a sure fire sign that he wasn't prepared for the sights that greeted him. Watching it back, it's as raw as it was on the day. Chris' vocals are huge, huge and imperfect. The bassline is deafening, the riffs chug along like you'd expect and the drums are powerful. Rain Wizard draws to a close, the crowd goes wild. Blind Man comes up next followed by Me & Mary Jane. The only things more impressive than the band's performance is the willingness of the crowd to participate and the sheer joy on the band's faces when they hear it. This is most evident during the opening line of Me & Mary Jane, the fact that it sends shivers down my spine as the crowd overpower the band gives an indication of how the band must feel.

From here the band take a 90+ minute tour of their four albums, picking their setlist to near perfection and nailing each track. The only downside being how often vocal responsibilities are handed to the crowd. It's great to hear the crowd participating, but when you pay to see a band you want to see that band performing their songs. That 'gripe' is dismissed as soon as Things My Father Said kicks in and the crowd takes the words right out of Chris' mouth and runs with the song from there. Moments like that aren't planned and show just how wonderful a thing music is. Many of the crowd would have been aware of the meaning behind the track and would have seen what happened when they played it at Download 2013, but most of them were just there to sing along with their favourite band. This track is worth the price of the DVD all on it's own. Although that isn't what Robertson is thinking as the moment brings him to tears.

 

What about the DVD though? The recording isn't edited to within an inch of it's life. You can hear the growl of the riffs, you can hear the harshness of the cymbals and the pounding of the bass drum and you can hear that Chris doesn't hit every note. How could he? After all, he isn't auto-tuning, he's performing live. The visuals are pretty much what you'd expect, it's the band doing it's thing.

 

From personal experience, this show isn't bigger than a normal BSC show. They haven't played up to the cameras. The cameras aren't static and they aren't still. They zoom in at times and they aren't steady. It's all natural. At one point you even see a drum tech on stage sorting out the kit - I doubt you'd see many bands allowing that onto their DVD.

 

Such is the sense of occasion felt upon watching this DVD it immediately makes me want to be crushed up against the barrier, belting out everything from Shooting Star to Hollywood In Kentucky, Fiesta Del Fuego to Hell And High Water. This is an excellent souvenir for anyone that was lucky enough to have been at the show and also for anyone that just plain loves Black Stone Cherry. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to watch it again. This time a bit louder though...